MANUFACTURISM PROMOTES LOCAL PRODUCTION

It is about showing the beauty of the craftsmanship and expertise we have in Europe.

June is the first month that Manufacturism is in business. The first couple of weeks were a rollercoaster of discovering new parts of the country, new cities, new contacts and multiple factory visits in different areas of Portugal. Renting a desk at CRU CoWork in Porto was a real jumpstart for the project and very important for gaining new contacts in the industry. I was invited for factory tours near the big cities of Portugal; Porto and Lisbon.

The country has clusters of expertise, only a one hour drive from Porto you will find the city of Rebordosa which is famous for their expertise in furniture. In the beginning of the 19thcentury sawing mills in the valley near the village were used to saw wood. The men made wooden chairs were transported by the women to the market in Porto by foot. Nowadays Rebordosa really transformed into the Portuguese center of furniture production. Carlos, who is the third in line of the family business “Moveis Carlos Alfredo” gave me a factory tour and showed me how they make furniture nowadays. Craftsmanship and state of the art technologies like a 5-axis CNC milling machine are working hand in hand.

Another product category that can mainly be found along the coastline are surfboards . The surfboard factories are responsible for the European production of surfboards for big brands that are selling worldwide. Australian and American brands choose to produce their European share in Europe and I am a big fan of that because only then a time and cost-efficient supply chain can be achieved. This way of thinking should inspire developers of other product categories too.

When I am not busy visiting European factories for Manufacturism I am working as an Independent Product Developer from inspiring shared offices.